Homer News

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to included a statement from Heartbeat of Homer.

A special election to recall three Homer City Council members who sponsored an “inclusivity” resolution appears to have failed. In preliminary results, the “no” votes are ahead in the bid to recall Homer City Council members Donna Aderhold, David Lewis and Catriona Reynolds.

A $10,000 grant awarded by The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority will keep The Exchange, Homer’s syringe exchange program, open and stocked with supplies for two years, said Ginny Espenshade, a co-founder of The Exchange.

During a forum sponsored by the Kenai and Soldotna chambers of commerce earlier this week, the three candidates for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Mark Begich discussed several Cook Inlet issues, including:

Q: A tremendous amount of federal dollars have gone into research, particularly for salmon. On the Kenai Peninsula, king salmon returns continue to dwindle. Where has all the money gone and where is the accountability of these funds?

The annual Kenai Peninsula Summer Music Festival starts Monday with noon time concerts in Homer and Kenai-Soldotna. Upcoming Homer concerts are Monday at Don Jose’s, Tuesday at Land’s End Resort, Wednesday at Two Sisters Bakery and July 31 at the Pratt Museum. The Madison String Quartet and friends play chamber concerts at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at Christ Lutheran Church, Soldotna, and 7:30 p.m. Aug. 4 at Faith Lutheran Church, Homer. Tickets are $20 general, $15 seniors and KPO members and free to youth 18 and younger.

Author Barbara Martin and artists Cherise Hyslip and Marsha Oberlender sign their books from 1 to 4 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at Bear Trax Gift and Gallery on the Homer Spit. Hyslip illustrated Martin’s book, “Offense Get Off of My Fence.” The book teaches children and adults how to guard their hearts from outside offenses. “Junk or Joy,” illustrated by Oberlender, uses metaphors to describe choices we make that feed our hearts from the inside. Both books will be on sale and also are available at www.powerme.us.com.

Like a good salmon run that keeps coming back stronger and stronger, Salmonstock, the three-day celebration of salmon and music, returns for its fourth year at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in Ninilchik. Last year the festival drew 5,500, and this year organizers expect it to top that and sell out, said Salmonstock spokesperson Kate Huber.

“It’s been growing every year,” she said. “It’s been wonderful. More and more Alaskans are coming from further out in the state.”

In its 20th year, the Homer Breast Cancer Run is doing something different. The Aug. 10 event begins at 9 a.m. at Mariner Park during a low, minus 4.3 tide and participants will have the option to run, walk or bike a 1-mile or a 5-mile loop on the beach. Strollers and dogs on leash are welcome. Local music, food and prizes are included. Pink flags will be displayed at local businesses, organizations and individual homes giving a $100 donation in support of the run.

In a repeat of the 2010 Hoka Hey motorcycle challenge, about 75 Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders left Key West, Fla., on Sunday and are headed to Homer.

This time, though, they’re riding for glory and not for a $500,000 prize for the first rider to hit Coal Point at the end of the Homer Spit. Calling this ride “Unfinished Business,” organizers waived the $1,000 entry fee. As in 2010, Hoka Hey is sponsored by the Medicine Show Land Trust of Hot Springs, S.D.

The Homer City Council, acting as the Board of Adjustment, heard an appeal Tuesday night of a conditional use permit granted for a 160-foot microwave tower to be built on Easy Street off Skyline Drive. The Kenai Kodiak Cable Company proposes to build the tower to provide faster internet service to Port Graham and Nanwalek. The Homer Advisory Planning Commission approved the CUP at its Dec. 4 meeting.

The Homer City Council, acting as the Board of Adjustment, heard an appeal Tuesday night of a conditional use permit granted for a 160-foot microwave tower to be built on Easy Street off Skyline Drive. The Kenai Kodiak Cable Company proposes to build the tower to provide faster internet service to Port Graham and Nanwalek. The Homer Advisory Planning Commission approved the CUP at its Dec. 4 meeting.

Reeling in a 30.60-pound king salmon, Raymond B. Tepp of Kenai is the first-place winner in the 2014 Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament held Saturday. Fishing aboard his own boat, the Inlet Plunder, Tepp’s cash prize is $19,026.

A total 202 fish were caught by the 907 anglers participating in the one-day event that began with hooks in the water at 9 a.m. and ended with hooks out of the water by 4 p.m. This was the 21st Winter King Salmon Tournament sponsored by the Homer Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center.

An early morning fire on Thursday killed a 46-year-old man at a Nikolaevsk home. After putting out the fire, firefighters found the remains of the man in the single-story ranch home. On Friday, Alaska State Troopers identified the victim as Andres "Andy" Afonasiev of Nikolaevsk. Next of kin has been notified.

Afonasiev was the only person in the home, said Megan Peters, a spokesperson for the Alaska State Troopers.

Kenai Peninsula Borough voters gave a thumbs-up to an increased residential property tax exemption and a school bond to pay for school capital projects, including a new turf field for Homer High School.They gave a thumbs-down to repealing the two-term limit for borough assembly members.“The propositions went kind of the way I thought they’d go,” said Borough Mayor Mike Navarre.